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Pakistan take on India in 3rd ODI at Arbab Niaz Stadium today: Hosts to quicken over-rate to prevent captain’s ban

PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s bowlers will speed up the over-rate in Friday’s third one-day international against India here to prevent captain Inzamamul Haq from being banned.

Match referee Ranjan Madugalle of Sri Lanka fined Inzamam 80 percent of his match fee after the hosts fell three overs short of the required rate during the second one-dayer at Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

If the offence is repeated over the next 12 months, Inzamam faces a ban from two to four Tests or four to eight one-day internationals. “Inzamam is definitely worried, but we have made our calculations and will keep a check on the over-rate,” team manager Haroon Rasheed told reporters.

“The over-rate becomes slow because when 300 runs are scored in an innings, it takes time to retrieve the ball from the boundary line. “But the bowlers will not let their captain down on Friday or for the rest of the series,” Rasheed said. The five-match one-day series has lived up to the hype generated by India’s first full tour to Pakistan in 15 years with the first two matches both producing over 300 runs in each innings.

The teams are locked at 1-1 with India edging out Pakistan by five runs in Karachi while the hosts hit back with another close 12-run win at Rawalpindi. The victor on Friday will gain a definite edge going into the last two matches at Lahore on March 21 and 24. India, meanwhile, are pondering their limited bowling options after seamer Ashish Nehra was sent home with a hand injury. The tourists are already without three injured frontline bowlers, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

Nehra, who bowled India to victory in the first match at Karachi by conceding just three runs in the final over when Pakistan needed nine to win, will be replaced by Delhi team-mate Amit Bhandari. It is likely that young seamer Irfan Pathan will play his first match in the series to bolster the new ball attack of Zaheer Khan and Laxmipathy Balaji. “Injuries are part and parcel of the modern game because we play so much these days,” said Indian captain Sourav Ganguly.

“I expect Pathan to deliver. We are very keen to win this one because taking the lead will be very handy before for the last two games. “There appears to be some grass on the wicket, but it remains to be seen how much of it will be there on Friday morning,” he said.

India rejected this north-western city as a Test venue over security fears due to its proximity to the volatile Afghanistan border, but agreed to play a one-day game after receiving safety assurances from the Pakistan government.

The provincial government has banned the entry of Afghan refugees into the 16,000-capacity stadium, which is being guarded around the clock by 1,500 policemen and para-military troops.

Likely teams:

Pakistan: Inzamam-ul Haq (capt), Yousuf Youhana, Yasir Hameed, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Moin Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmed.

India: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virendar Sehwag, Venkatsai Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Laxmipathy Balaji, Ramesh Powar, Irfan Pathan.

Umpires: David Shepherd (ENG), Nadeem Ghauri (PAK)

TV umpire: Asad Rauf (PAK)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI). —AFP

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